es it. He thinks out
how long it will be before the old man will die, and whether he can
stand the refractory temper until he does die, and then he enters the
relation; for he says, "If I cannot stand it, then through the divorce
law I'll back out." That process is going on all the time, and men
enter the relation without any moral principle, without any affection,
and it is as much a matter of stock speculation as anything that
transpired yesterday in Union Pacific, Wabash, and Delaware and
Lackawanna.

Now, suppose a man understood, as he ought to understand, that if he
goes into that relation there is no possibility of his getting out,
or no probability, he would be more slow to put his neck in the yoke.
He should say to himself, "Rather than a Caribbean whirlwind with a
whole fleet of shipping in its arms, give me a zephyr off fields of
sunshine and gardens of peace."

Rigorous divorce law will also hinder women from

THE FATAL MISTAKE

of marrying men to reform them. If a young man by twenty-five years of
age or thirty years of age has the habit of strong drink fixed on him,
he is as certainly bound for a drunkard's grave as that a train
starting out from Grand Central Depot at 8 o'clock to-morrow morning
is bound for Albany. The train may not reach Albany, for it may be
thrown from the track. The young man may not reach a drunkard's grave,
for something may throw him off the iron track of evil habit; but the
probability is that the train that starts to-morrow morning at 8
o'clock for Albany will get there and the probability is that the
young man who has the habit of strong drink fixed on him before
twenty-five or thirty years of age will arrive at a drunkard's grave.
She knows he drinks, although he tries to hide it by chewing cloves.
Everybody knows he drinks. Parents warn, neighbors and friends warn.
She will marry him, she will reform him.

If she is unsuccessful in the experiment, why then the divorce law
will emancipate her, because habitual drunkenness is a cause for
divorce in Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Connecticut, and nearly all the
States. So the poor thing goes to the altar of sacrifice. If you will
show me the poverty-struck streets in any city I will show you the
homes of the women who married men to reform them. In one case out of
ten thousand it may be a successful experiment. I never saw the
successful experiment. But have a rigorous divorce law, and that woman
will say, "If I am affianc